Healthy Eating

Healthy eating starts by making informed food choices. Choosing a variety of nutrient-rich foods as the foundation of what you eat can help you live a longer, healthier life. Tufts experts keep you up to date on everything from shopping for the best meats, fish, fruits and vegetables to nutrition-smart food preparation and more.

Vitamins & Supplements

The best way to get the nutrients your body needs is by eating a balanced diet. But it's not always easy to meet your daily requirements of certain nutrients from food alone. Tufts experts separate the facts from the hype on supplements. You'll find unbiased information on vitamins like B-complex, C, D and E, supplements like omega-3 and lutein and essential minerals like magnesium and potassium and how they can protect or, in high doses, even harm your health.

Exercise & Mobility

The health benefits of regular exercise and physical activity are hard to ignore. Exercise can prevent weight gain, help you lose weight, reduce your risk for chronic diseases, even improve your mood. There are many ways for older adults to include physical activity and promote mobility. You'll discover in-depth ideas for protecting your mobility and independence, and receive the latest news on joint health, inflammation, and healthy bones.

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Healthy Heart

A healthy heart is essential to remaining active and full of energy. Protecting your heart is easier than you might think. Taking steps such as limiting certain fats and including "good fats" that improve your cholesterol can reduce your risk of coronary artery disease, heart attack and stroke. You'll learn about the most important steps you can take to ensure a healthy heart from the experts at Tufts.

Healthy Mind

Understanding how our brain functions is related to what we eat is an emerging area of fascinating scientific discovery. Learn how certain foods and nutrients affect cognition, and get the facts about brain-boosting foods such as green tea and dark chocolate so you can live the most mentally healthy lifestyle possible for years to come.

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Healthy Aging

Feeling fit and well will help you get the most out of your everyday life as you age. Tufts experts will give you the knowledge to manage your health and offer tips on to increase your energy and maintain your independence. Stay on top of the latest health research to get the most out of life.

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Articles October 2014 Issue

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Retrospective study finds beneficial association, but only for those initially normal.

A new study using neuroimaging and cognitive testing found significantly less brain atrophy and better scores on cognitive tests among older individuals taking fish-oil supplements than among those not taking supplements. These beneficial effects were seen only in those with normal cognitive abilities at the beginning of the study, however. No improvement was seen in participants who already displayed mild cognitive impairments or Alzheimer’s.

Lead researcher Laurie A. Daiello, PharmD, of Brown University, cautioned, “Retrospective studies cannot establish cause and effect, so we can’t make a global recommendation that everyone should start taking fish-oil supplements. But the findings highlight the need for additional research on the effects of long-term fish-oil use on brain health in later life.”

The findings, published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, add to a growing body of evidence that supplements of the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish (DHA and EPA) can benefit the brain and cognitive behavior. According to Robin B. Kanarek, PhD, Tufts professor of psychology,

“Previous randomized controlled trials assessing the influence of omega-3 supplementation on cognitive function in healthy older adults suggest that DHA (800-900 milligrams per day) can improve verbal, visuospatial and episodic memory, and that higher serum and plasma DHA are generally associated with improved cognitive scores on these measures.”

LOOKING BACKWARD: In the new study, Daiello and colleagues took a retrospective look at the effects of fish-oil supplements on brain activity and behavior in 819 older adults who participated in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Every six months, participants completed standard cognitive tests for memory and other mental abilities and underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Daiello and colleagues correlated the results on the scans and cognitive measures with participants’ use of fish-oil supplements during the four-year study period: Did those who took fish-oil pills fare better?

The study group included 229 older adults without cognitive deficits when the study began, 397 who were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairments, and 193 with Alzheimer’s disease. Only those in the initially normal group displayed an association between fish-oil supplementation and cognitive protection. But that apparent benefit was significant—less brain atrophy in key neurological areas as well as better test scores. Individuals with the most-studied genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, APOE-4, did not seem to benefit from fish-oil pills, nor did those already diagnosed with the disease or with mild cognitive impairments.

HOW MUCH AND WHO?: The study also did not address the dosage of fish oil that participants took, and prior research suggests that might be important. Tufts’ Kanarek points out that in another study, a lower dose of DHA (such as about 250 milligrams a day) did not influence cognitive function.

As for people already suffering cognitive decline or dementia, the evidence for the benefits of fish oil is mixed. “Some findings suggest that supplementation with omega-3s may improve cognitive functions in individuals with mild cognitive deficits or Alzheimer’s disease,” Kanarek says.

“In contrast, however, other work showed no influence of omega-3 supplementation in individuals with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease”—as did this latest study.

BRAIN FOOD: It makes sense that fish-oil supplements might benefit the brain. Lipids, a collective term for fats and oils, make up about 50%-60% of the brain’s dry weight, and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA (docohexaenoic acid) is the most abundant fatty acid found in nerve cell membranes. The DHA composition of the brain decreases with age as a result of the cumulative effects of oxidative damage, so getting extra DHA might make up for that loss.

To date, however, even with this new study, the evidence of benefit is not as strong for obtaining fish oil in pill form as it is for consuming omega-3s from dietary sources such as fish.

Your Brain on FishOne important study of the brain benefits of eating fish was conducted by Tufts’ HNRCA Lipid Metabolism Laboratory in 2006. Participants with the highest blood levels of the omega-3 DHA reported that they ate an average of nearly three fish servings a week. Those with higher blood levels of DHA, as well as those eating the most fish, had a dramatically lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease on followup. Subjects with the highest DHA levels had a 47% reduced risk of dementia and a 39% lower risk of Alzheimer’s.